Chapter 2
Kairo~
I pulled the mask off my face, getting that first breath of fresh air in hours.
I had a degree in biochemistry, and while it wasn’t often that I worked in the labs, today was an exception.
I worked primarily in administrative research, and that included a lot of rubbing elbows for donations and research grants, which I didn’t mind now that life was so much simpler.
Twenty-five years ago, the American people had decided that segregation would be the answer to all our problems, and with the desire to see America back on top, it’d taken five years or so of hard work to make it the powerhouse that it was today.
A lot of sacrifice had been made in the name of democracy, and even though China was now the greatest nation on the planet, America was still in the top five.
I was also lucky in that my father, Alvin Booker, was the Administrator for Sterling Acres, and having always been in that role since the beginning of the new movement, our family didn’t know anything else.
My father’s profession had also allowed my mother, Anita, to be a stay-at-home mother, and she had raised three boys while my father had worked tirelessly to make this country a better place.
Now, my older brother, Dallas, was twenty-eight, and he worked as an attorney for my father’s administration, something that he’d wanted to do his entire life.
Dallas was very passionate about the law, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he tried to follow in my father’s footsteps once his term was finished.
As for my other brother, Leyden, who was actually my twin, he was still in med school, having chosen neurosurgery as his specialty. He was probably going to be in med school for the rest of his life, but that was to be expected when you considered the discipline that he’d chosen.
At any rate, not for nothing, but we were a very successful family, and even my best friend, Winston Miller, had a life worth bragging about.
He was a history teacher at the only private school in town, and education was a very valuable commodity these days.
With every region striving to be the best, education was pushed on children from a rather young age.
Needless to say, my family and I had no complaints.
We had ended up on the fortunate side of life, and I wasn’t ashamed to say that I enjoyed the perks of my father’s hard work, and why shouldn’t I?
He’d done everything that he could to provide us with a good life, and I appreciated his sacrifices by always trying to be the best person possible.
We’d also been raised not to take the commitment of marriage lightly, which was why we were all still single.
Whether right or wrong, our family was in a position of influence, and our behaviors and convictions were the examples set for our region.
So, it wasn’t a good look to be getting divorced because we’d been impetuous or not committed.
My father’s position in life had also prepared us for the world as it was today.
While we were fortunate enough to be surrounded by our own kind, we still had to work with other regions and communities to keep the new movement rolling steadily, and diplomacy went a long way to making things run smoothly.
Growing up, I’d lost count of how many regional meetings that I’d witness between my father and the other Administrators, and though they met in person only once a quarter, they had regular conference calls all the time.
Now, while my father was the Administrator for Sterling Acres, Phillp Williams presided over Ivory Meadows, Alfred Voltaire presided over Rich Gardens, Kodah Muna presided over Spirit Lands, Benicio Cortez presided over Rancher Hills, Akio Tanaka presided over Flower Realms, Zach Richman presided over Morning Peaks, and Caleb Majors presided over Blooming Heights.
Each person had been voted in at the beginning of the new movement, and by all accounts, everyone was doing a well enough job that no one’s seat had been upended yet.
All-in-all, I was happy with the way that things were and with my life.
Though segregation had been frowned upon at one time, things were different this time around.
We’d been segregated by choice, and that made all the difference.
Plus, those that hadn’t wanted to be segregated had been given the opportunity to live with others of the same mindset, and that had also been another glaring difference.
If you’d wanted to be among the many different cultures that had once made up the United States of America, then you’d still been given that option by choosing to live in Blooming Heights.
As for me, I liked being able to walk the city streets without worrying that someone might randomly throw a racial slur my way because they were racist, hateful, or just having a bad day; take your pick.
I liked the freeing feeling of being Black without any hate involved.
Yeah, Sterling Acres might still have its fair share of poverty, crime, and struggles, but racism had been pretty much eradicated in our region, even if it still existed elsewhere.
Now, granted, the internet still existed, so we could still be subjected to the hate that was still out there in the world, but we also had the option to log off the computer if we didn’t want to deal with that kind of stuff.
Social media was a choice, not a necessity, and if you needed to feel popular more than you needed to protect your inner peace...
well, then that was your choice to make, and I respected it either way.
I just didn’t care to enable a person’s hurt feelings when they did it to themselves.
Walking out of the labs, I removed my coat and gear, then opened my locker, storing my facemask and respirator, leaving my lab coat for the hamper.
Since the work that we did here included a lot of research for our governing body, Truman Technologies had strict policies, and except for the lobby and breakrooms, everything else had clean-room status.
When I finally pulled my phone out of my pocket, I was heading towards the cafeteria area when I saw a text message from Winston, and I immediately grinned.
Win: Fishing this weekend n u can’t say no
Because walking and texting was a huge pet peeve of mine, I step to the side of the hallway, making sure to stay out of the way, then texted him back.
Me: Why can’t I say no?
He must have been waiting for my reply, because dots started dancing on my screen.
Win: I already convinced Dal n Ley to go n u know that Ley never has any time off
He wasn’t wrong about that. I wasn’t sure what possessed someone to put themselves through the hell of medical school, but I could only hope that the end of Leyden’s journey was worth it.
Me: Well, I guess I can’t say no
Win: (fish emoji, fish emoji, fish emoji)
While most everyone had a hobby of some sort, Winston’s was fishing.
He’d rather be out fishing than doing anything else, and while a relaxing pastime, I wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as Winston was, or even Dallas and Leyden.
I went to enjoy the camaraderie with the people that mattered most to me, and that was the only reason that I went.
Hell, we didn’t even keep the damn fish to eat; we always threw them back.
Sliding the phone back in my pocket, I continued towards the cafeteria, and as my back ached from sitting for so long, a day of fishing started to sound like a good idea.
Yeah, I was going to head back home smelling like a corpse, but since I didn’t have a girlfriend to offend, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
That thought had me thinking back to the last conversation that I’d had with my mother, and I hoped to God that my father had done as he’d promised and had spoken with her.
Even though I worked a lot of hours like Dallas and Leyden, my job still wasn’t as demanding as what was required of my brothers, so my mother had taken to pestering me about getting married and beginning a family, and that was the last thing that I wanted right now.
Now, while I had nothing against marriage or kids, that kind of pressure was unlike anything else in the world. Jobs came and went, and if you ever had to start from the bottom again, you could do that. The RNA allowed that for everyone that was willing to work hard enough.
However, a family?
When you got married, you committed yourself to putting another person’s happiness before yours, and that was some serious shit. Then, when you had children, you committed yourself to raising these complex human beings into becoming decent, hard-working, kind people...and seriously, holy shit.
I shook my head, trying to forget the last conversation that had taken place between me and my mother.
While I understood her desire for grandchildren, I wasn’t ready for all that.
Hell, I didn’t even have a girlfriend at the present time, much less have one to get pregnant.
Not to mention that I’d never been in love and wasn’t even sure if I’d recognize it if it happened.
I mean, what the hell did that feel like anyway?